Marquette's guards, DeMarcus Nelson/Gerald Henderson, Michigan St big men, Michigan St.-UCLA
1. Marquette has the deepest and most talented backcourt I can ever remember seeing. Monday against Chaminade, the starting trio of Dominic James, Jerel McNeal, and Wesley Matthews struggled early, and David Cubillan, a Venezuela native, came off the bench to the team's best guard for much of the game. James got off to a hot start Tuesday night against Oklahoma St., and then Ball State transfer Maurice Acker came in and the Golden Eagles didn't miss a beat. There are a ton of major conference teams -- fellow Maui competitors Illinois comes to mind -- that would kill for any two of these five.
They complement each other very well. At 6'5" and 6'3", respectively, Matthews and McNeal are big enough to get by defensively, allowing coach Tom Crean to play them alongside the dimunitive James (or Cubillan, when he comes off the bench). James creates well of the bounce, and has a middle game to go along with three-point range. Cubillan brings energy, playmaking, and a deep threat from off the bench -- he's kind of a poor man's James. Acker may be the best of the quintet at setting the table for others.
The amazing thing is that there's a good chance they'll all be back next year. The three starters are juniors, and Cubillan and Acker are just sophomores.
James flirted with the NBA last year but his size (he's listed at 5'11") and statistical dropoff -- a lack of improvement, actually -- from his freshman to sophomore years made his return to Marquette likely. He didn't help himself too much in pre-draft workouts, and since it's doubtful NBA scouts will have forgotten that, it seems reasonable that he come back for his senior year as well -- barring massive improvement during his junior campaign. There doesn't seem to be any early-entry talk surrounding any of the others. This group could dominate the Big East for the next two years.
2. Last year's Duke team lacked a go-to wing scorer, a guy who could take the ball, put his head down, and get to the basket when needed. I thought DeMarcus Nelson was that guy -- and he showed the ability to do so -- but he didn't seem to step up in the big moments. I remember several games in which he got off to a quick, aggressive start, then disappeared for the balance of the evening. As a result, Duke relied too much on the three-pointer, a common criticism of the excellent program in recent years.
The Devils seem to have solved that problem this year. Against Illinois on Tuesday in Maui, Nelson -- a senior -- and sophomore Gerald Henderson simply took the game over with the ball in their hands. The thing I liked most is that they routinely would finish drives that many players would have aborted. They weren't blowing by their defenders, but used their upper-body strength to get clear of the Illini and get to the hoop.
Both have good complementary games -- Nelson has a nice touch from deep, and Henderson's midrange game elicited comparisons to Kobe Bryant from the announcing trio of Jay Bilas, Bill Raftery, and Sean McDonough. But their ability to get to the basket is something that will win a few games for Duke this year. Illinois' lack of a player who could do what Nelson and Henderson were doing -- or, depending on how you look at it, their inability to stop these two -- was the difference in the 79-66 Duke win.
3. I can't decide about Michigan State's UConn-esque big-man-by-committee: Marquise Gray, Tom Herzog, Idong Ibok, Drew Naymick, and Goran Suton. On the one hand, I've always been rather unimpressed by this group (all but Herzog, who's a freshman), and they're clearly improved this year.
On the other hand, they used 15 fouls among them trying to contain Kevin Love, UCLA's stud freshman, and the kid still put up 21 points and 11 boards. The MSU quintet totalled just 16 points and 13 rebounds among them, and gave up a total of 18 offensive boards, including eight by Love.
And1 I recognize that Michigan State-UCLA -- being the first matchup between ranked teams of this young season -- was the most important game of the night, but I don't want to analyze it too much because UCLA point guard Darren Collison was out with a lingering leg injury, and Michigan State point Drew Neitzel was limited by a stomach virus.
Collison's replacement, Russell Westbrook, is an athletic, capable backup who I think tries to do too much offensively. But with Collison and Michael Roll out, the Bruins backcourt was very thin; as a matter of fact, Westbrook went the whole 40 minutes. Neitzel's illness led to extended minutes for freshman Kalin Lucas -- something that might help the Spartans in the long run. Neitzel's considerable scoring talents are best used in the two-guard slot, and as long as Lucas shows that he can handle the ballhandling responsibilities -- he was inconsistent in this regard against the Bruins -- I'd expect to see him play alongside Neitzel more and more this season, as he did Tuesday night.
They complement each other very well. At 6'5" and 6'3", respectively, Matthews and McNeal are big enough to get by defensively, allowing coach Tom Crean to play them alongside the dimunitive James (or Cubillan, when he comes off the bench). James creates well of the bounce, and has a middle game to go along with three-point range. Cubillan brings energy, playmaking, and a deep threat from off the bench -- he's kind of a poor man's James. Acker may be the best of the quintet at setting the table for others.
The amazing thing is that there's a good chance they'll all be back next year. The three starters are juniors, and Cubillan and Acker are just sophomores.
James flirted with the NBA last year but his size (he's listed at 5'11") and statistical dropoff -- a lack of improvement, actually -- from his freshman to sophomore years made his return to Marquette likely. He didn't help himself too much in pre-draft workouts, and since it's doubtful NBA scouts will have forgotten that, it seems reasonable that he come back for his senior year as well -- barring massive improvement during his junior campaign. There doesn't seem to be any early-entry talk surrounding any of the others. This group could dominate the Big East for the next two years.
2. Last year's Duke team lacked a go-to wing scorer, a guy who could take the ball, put his head down, and get to the basket when needed. I thought DeMarcus Nelson was that guy -- and he showed the ability to do so -- but he didn't seem to step up in the big moments. I remember several games in which he got off to a quick, aggressive start, then disappeared for the balance of the evening. As a result, Duke relied too much on the three-pointer, a common criticism of the excellent program in recent years.
The Devils seem to have solved that problem this year. Against Illinois on Tuesday in Maui, Nelson -- a senior -- and sophomore Gerald Henderson simply took the game over with the ball in their hands. The thing I liked most is that they routinely would finish drives that many players would have aborted. They weren't blowing by their defenders, but used their upper-body strength to get clear of the Illini and get to the hoop.
Both have good complementary games -- Nelson has a nice touch from deep, and Henderson's midrange game elicited comparisons to Kobe Bryant from the announcing trio of Jay Bilas, Bill Raftery, and Sean McDonough. But their ability to get to the basket is something that will win a few games for Duke this year. Illinois' lack of a player who could do what Nelson and Henderson were doing -- or, depending on how you look at it, their inability to stop these two -- was the difference in the 79-66 Duke win.
3. I can't decide about Michigan State's UConn-esque big-man-by-committee: Marquise Gray, Tom Herzog, Idong Ibok, Drew Naymick, and Goran Suton. On the one hand, I've always been rather unimpressed by this group (all but Herzog, who's a freshman), and they're clearly improved this year.
On the other hand, they used 15 fouls among them trying to contain Kevin Love, UCLA's stud freshman, and the kid still put up 21 points and 11 boards. The MSU quintet totalled just 16 points and 13 rebounds among them, and gave up a total of 18 offensive boards, including eight by Love.
And1 I recognize that Michigan State-UCLA -- being the first matchup between ranked teams of this young season -- was the most important game of the night, but I don't want to analyze it too much because UCLA point guard Darren Collison was out with a lingering leg injury, and Michigan State point Drew Neitzel was limited by a stomach virus.
Collison's replacement, Russell Westbrook, is an athletic, capable backup who I think tries to do too much offensively. But with Collison and Michael Roll out, the Bruins backcourt was very thin; as a matter of fact, Westbrook went the whole 40 minutes. Neitzel's illness led to extended minutes for freshman Kalin Lucas -- something that might help the Spartans in the long run. Neitzel's considerable scoring talents are best used in the two-guard slot, and as long as Lucas shows that he can handle the ballhandling responsibilities -- he was inconsistent in this regard against the Bruins -- I'd expect to see him play alongside Neitzel more and more this season, as he did Tuesday night.
posted by H.S. Slam, Ph.D at 1:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home